The present embodiments relate to a method for computer-aided analysis of medical images as well as to a corresponding apparatus.
Calcified plaques in vessels (particularly arteries) are detected by analyzing medical images. Based on the detected calcified plaques, a physician can perform a diagnosis of a patient in order to reveal artery diseases. Particularly for cardiac medical images, the detection of calcified plaques is very important for a subsequent diagnosis of diseases and particularly for diagnosing coronary artery disease.
In most clinical tools, a semi-automatic approach is used for detecting calcified plaques in arteries. To do so, groups of voxels in 3D CT scans being potential candidates for calcified plaques are automatically identified. The identified groups of voxels are then manually assigned to specific vessels in order to distinguish the coronary calcium inside vessels from bone, calcium outside of vessels, and noise.